Oldest civilization?

[Marble]

Which is the oldest civilization?
I think Ancient Egypt, but I'm not sure...

 

[Oneatatime]

I may have spelled this wrong but wasn't it the Sumerians?

 

[Marble]

Nothing before them?

 

[Draka]

Indus Valley I believe.

 

[Sunstone]

I may have spelled this wrong but wasn't it the Sumerians?

Yes. The Sumerians predate the second oldest civilization, Egypt, by at least 500 years. If my memory is correct.

There are older sedentary communities though. Jericho comes to mind. But Jericho does not seem to have had the sort of hereditary, hierarchical class structure of Sumer.

 

[Marble]

Indus Valley I believe.

No, Sumer was erlier:

Sumer (from Akkadian Šumeru; Sumerian ������ ki-en-ĝir15, approximately "land of the civilized lords" or "native land"[1])[2] was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age.
Sumerian civilization took form in the Uruk period (4th millennium BC), continuing into the Jemdat Nasr and Early Dynastic periods. It was conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire around 2400 BC. Native Sumerian rule re-emerged for about a century in the third dynasty of Ur (Sumerian Renaissance) of the 21st to 20th century (short chronology).
The cities of Sumer were the first civilization to practice intensive, year-round agriculture, by 5000 BC showing the use of core agricultural techniques including large-scale intensive cultivation of land, mono-cropping, organized irrigation, and the use of a specialized labour force. The surplus of storable food created by this economy allowed the population to settle in one place instead of migrating after crops and grazing land. It also allowed for a much greater population density, and in turn required an extensive labour force and division of labour. Sumer was also the site of early development of writing, progressing from a stage of proto-writing in the mid 4th millennium BC to writing proper in the third millennium (see Jemdet Nasr period).

Wiki

The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300 BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE)

Wiki

 

[Vinayaka]

Which is the oldest civilization?
I think Ancient Egypt, but I'm not sure...

I wonder why you ask. My opinion is that it would be mostly conjecture supplemented by personal biases.

 

[Marble]

I wonder why you ask. My opinion is that it would be mostly conjecture supplemented by personal biases.

Because I want to find out which are the oldest gods (specially: the oldest goddesses) worshiped.
So far it looks like the Sumerian pantheon is the oldest:

The main Sumerian deities are as follows:

• An: God of heaven/the firmament.
• Enlil: God of the air (from Lil = Air); patron deity of Nippur.
• Enki: God of freshwater, male fertility, and knowledge; patron deity of Eridu.
• Inanna: Goddess of sexual love, female fertility and warfare; matron deity of Uruk.
• Ki: Goddess of the earth.[9]
• Nanna, God of the moon; one of the patron deities of Ur.[10]
• Ningal: Wife of Nanna.[11]
• Ninlil: An air goddess and wife of Enlil; one of the matron deities of Nippur; she was believed to reside in the same temple as Enlil.[12]
• Ninurta: God of war, agriculture, one of the Sumerian wind gods; patron deity of Girsu and one of the patron deities of Lagash.
• Utu: God of the sun at the E'barbara temple[13] of Sippar.

Sumerian religion

 

[fallingblood]

Because I want to find out which are the oldest gods (specially: the oldest goddesses) worshiped.
So far it looks like the Sumerian pantheon is the oldest:

The Oldest Civilization does not equal the oldest gods or goddesses. There were people worshipping various gods before our recognized civilizations.

 

[Marble]

The Oldest Civilization does not equal the oldest gods or goddesses. There were people worshipping various gods before our recognized civilizations.

Sure, but it would be difficult to find out who were these deities, as there are no written records from that age.

 

[fallingblood]

Sure, but it would be difficult to find out who were these deities, as there are no written records from that age.

To really find out who the deities were in Sumerian belief would also be quite difficult as we don't have in depth accounts of those beings.

But we do have writings before civilizations emerged. And our information isn't always based on just written records. So it becomes quite a difficult task.

 

[NemisisQ]

Plz keep this in mind that due to many earthquakes this historical world has been through in the past, many lands of ancient civilization has been subdued by natures wrath. Such as the proof of the lost city of atlantis was real, being many scientist have alrdy found artifacts that branded it's existance

 

[fallingblood]

Plz keep this in mind that due to many earthquakes this historical world has been through in the past, many lands of ancient civilization has been subdued by natures wrath. Such as the proof of the lost city of atlantis was real, being many scientist have alrdy found artifacts that branded it's existance

Actually, there is no evidence that this mythical city existed. What scientists have found are civilizations, (or more like cities), that have experienced a disaster that inspired the story of Atlantis. The modern idea that there was some technologically advanced civilization that existed in the past and has later been lost simply is not supported by science or archeological evidence.

 

[Sunstone]

Plz keep this in mind that due to many earthquakes this historical world has been through in the past, many lands of ancient civilization has been subdued by natures wrath. Such as the proof of the lost city of atlantis was real, being many scientist have alrdy found artifacts that branded it's existance

Are you referring to Detroit?

 

[metasophical_flow]

If you are interested in old civilizations: Do a google-search on 'Gobekli Tepe' and 'Zhang Zhung'...

 

[javajo]

How long has mankind been on the earth? Do we have evidence for civilizations existing more than say, 10,000 yrs. ago? If so, why not? Could they not have built structures that would last for thousands of years, too, like the Pyramids or something? The Egyptians and other early civilizations were extremely intelligent, so what about their predecessors? Does the evidence of our earliest civilizations coincide with the number of years ascribed to man in the Bible?

 

[Otherright]

The civilizations in the Indus valleys are the known oldest civs. If you are looking at the oldest religion, that would be hard to pin down, however, it is known that Hinduism is, by far, the oldest religion of continuous practice.

It is unknown as to when it actually began, but according to more liberal estimates, the Rig Veda is at least 5,000 years old, (conservative estimates put it at 1700 BCE) so it predates that. By how far, who knows.

Archeologically, in the Indus valley, it is hard to find evidence of a time that Hinduism didn't exist.

 

[Caladan]

The Fertile Crescent, the Indus valley, and the Yellow river in China were home to the oldest civilizations.

 

[Marble]

What about the Nile?

 

[Otherright]

What about the Nile?

The most liberal (and I mean liberal) estimates for a Nile Civ are 3100 BC.